REF NO. REC/S5/18/TB/42 RURAL ECONOMY AND CONNECTIVITY COMMITTEE TRANSPORT (SCOTLAND) BILL SUBMISSION FROM SESTRAN (SOUTH EAST SCOTLAND TRANSPORT PARTNERSHIP) Established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, SEStran is the statutory Regional Transport Partnership covering the eight local authorities in the South East of Scotland including: Clackmannanshire, Scottish Borders, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian, Fife, Falkirk, and City of Edinburgh Council. SEStran welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Transport (Scotland) Bill Consultation. The Bill addresses a number of Scottish Government commitments from the 2017-18 Programme for Government1. The Bill aims to empower Local Authorities and enable them to implement future commitments as set out in the Programme for Government. The Bill is structured into the following six parts which will be considered as part of this consultation response: Low Emission Zones (LEZs) Part 1 – Low emission zones: makes provision in relation to the creation and enforcement of low emission zones in Scotland. Key provisions as set out by the Bill, as stated by Transport Scotland include: • Providing local authorities with powers to create, enforce, operate or revoke a low emission zone in their area and to design the shape, size and vehicle scope of their low emission zone • The setting of specified emission standard by the Scottish Ministers by regulations • The setting of grace-periods to allow those wishing to drive within the low emission zone an opportunity to upgrade their vehicle to a less polluting model (either by replacing it or having it modified) before penalty charges begin to be applied • The ability for local authorities to promote permanent and/or time limited exemptions from the requirements of a low emission zone, where certain requirements are met to strict criteria; these exemptions will be set by the Scottish Ministers by regulations • Enable Scottish Ministers to specify by regulations the amount of the penalty charge, with the ability to specify different levels of penalty charge depending on, for example, the class of vehicle, the emission standard of the non-compliant vehicle, or whether there are repeated contraventions 1 https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00524214.pdf REF NO. REC/S5/18/TB/42 • How contravention of the low emission zone standards would be handled. If contraventions occurred on the same day, in the same zone, using the same vehicle, and provided that the person who is liable to pay the penalty in respect of the vehicle is also the same in respect of the infractions, only one penalty per day would be payable; • Detailed regulations and guidance will be produced for local authorities to deliver a consistent approach in how they enforce the new low emission zone requirements; • Setting out the rules which will apply to penalty charge notices, such as the form they take, the time allowed for payment, internal review of a notice and/or appeal of the notice to an external adjudicator; • Providing local authorities with powers to create, operate and revoke low emission zones with other councils; and • Requiring local authorities to utilise the money they receive from the enforcement of the new restrictions for ring-fenced purposes, particularly to facilitate the achievement of the low emission zone scheme objectives. SEStran supports the principle of LEZs, if they are delivered as part of a wider local or regional sustainable transport strategy. It must be clear what the LEZ is designed to achieve, as they will have a significant impact on the region. Many residents working in neighbouring councils work in the Capital. Therefore, any LEZs should be seen in that context, and should not be viewed in isolation. LEZs should be implemented alongside complementary measures that encourage the uptake of active travel and reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles. The Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) recognises that transport must play its part in the reduction of emissions and improvement of local air quality. Many SEStran RTS measures are aimed at reducing car single occupancy travel and encouraging sustainable travel behaviours. As stated in the Bill, LEZs will enable Local Authorities to possess powers to restrict the access of vehicles which are not compliant to certain emission standards form entering specified districts. The bill, as introduced, gives powers to set the specified emission standards to Scottish Ministers, not local authorities. This should be amended to give these powers to local authorities or regional bodies, since it is those authorities who are best placed to decide the best approach to tackling poor air quality within their area. It is understood that local decision making may dictate the need for flexibility to fund schemes’ maintenance. Care will need to be taken to ensure that the public are aware of the need for an LEZ, to ensure the penalty scheme is not seen as another “road user tax”. This would require a consistent marketing campaign and promotional materials across Scotland, ahead of implementation. This should be considered along with the provisions made within the Bill REF NO. REC/S5/18/TB/42 regarding the provision of signs, ANPR cameras and the enforcement of schemes. Sufficient investment must be made in further active travel initiatives and infrastructure in order to make an LEZ work. Funding and support must also be made available to ensure that transport operators within the region are able to operate within the city’s LEZ. The Scottish Government has committed to introduce Low Emission Zones in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee by the end of 2020. SEStran is currently represented on the Delivery Group for Edinburgh’s LEZ. In this group SEStran aims to provide a regional perspective, alongside best practice examples. Including, last mile logistics research from the SURFLOUGH2 EU project, and shared mobility examples from the SHARE-North3 EU project. Overall, SEStran welcomes the proposals outlined within the Transport Bill. However, as previously mentioned, this should not be viewed in isolation, and financial support should be provided to Authorities so that these commitments are able to be met accordingly. The framework for such funding should be explicit on how it will support authorities and public transport providers in the long term. Bus Services Part 2 – Bus services: ensures that local transport authorities have viable and flexible options to improve bus services in their areas. • Powers to create new Bus Service Improvement Partnerships (BSIP). These would replace current legislative provision to create Statutory Quality Partnerships (SQPs) and are intended to provide a stronger framework for partnership working than SQPs; • Powers to introduce Franchising of a local bus network. This would replace current legislative provision to create Quality Contracts, and are designed to enable a simpler but still rigorous route to create a bus franchise in a defined area; • New/extended powers for local transport authorities (LTA) to provide bus services to meet social needs. This would allow an LTA to create its own ‘bus company’ but only for those services deemed socially necessary, thereby avoiding any potential conflict with the commercial bus sector; • Powers to require bus operators to make more information available to the public on services, including routes, timetables and fares. This would ensure current and potential passengers as are as fully informed as they can be in their decision-making about a trip (through better information on travel planning apps, for example, or Real Time Passenger Information); and, 2 http://sestran.gov.uk/projects/surflogh/ 3 http://sestran.gov.uk/projects/share-north/ REF NO. REC/S5/18/TB/42 • Powers to require operators varying or withdrawing services to provide more information to local transport authorities. This provision enables LTAs to be more informed about reasons for a service withdrawal, and at a more strategic level, encourage greater competition between bus operators. Bus Service Improvement Partnerships (BSIPs) The Bill offers the opportunity to create BSIPs. Like SPT, other RTPs could provide a supportive role in the creation of BSIPs where cross-boundary routes to be considered. SEStran welcomes this opportunity, however, as the Bill currently stands, without considerable financial support and buy-in from the operators, the creation of further BSIPs could prove costly and largely unused. More support in this area must be considered, if falling bus patronage numbers are to be improved. SEStran, currently a model 1 partnership is not empowered to ‘contribute’ to a BSIP but could assist in facilitating. Franchising With regards to the franchising powers considered for transport authorities, SEStran is in principle, supportive of this option. As in other Cities across this UK, this could result in improved services and an increase in patronage. However, this change would require a great amount of research and assessment of all routes, fares and their viability. This would be an extremely costly exercise, and cost benefits should be fully considered before being entered into. Information SEStran welcomes the provisions in the Bill which would require bus operators to share information on routes and timetables. SEStran has continued to champion the implementation of bus real-time information throughout the SEStran Region and has seen its benefits across both urban and rural communities. However, SEStran would emphasise that data provided by operators